Romney is a horrible person, he embodies the greed, arrogance, and elitism of the entitled class. He also lacks the basic integrity or core beliefs necessary to earn the respect of even those on the right.

Okay, so we begin with the fact that some (a lot of) working-class white people have some sickening antipathy toward African-Americans. What begins to break that antipathy down? When black and white march together on a picket line, or suffer management oppression together.

So Obama’s failure to show feet-on-the-ground solidarity with the strikers in Wisconsin was not only wrong in itself; it was dumbass bad politics. This wasn’t just a “mistake” however–it was an honest, principled decision, and no more than we should expect from the bosom pal of Lawrence Summers and Tim Geithner.

Older working class whites do have racist tendencies but I find the soft, covert racism of more affluent and more educated suburbanites to be much more prevalent and much more despicable. Here in Black Rock racism was the norm in the 60’s and 70’s when I came of age. That is not the case today, my children (and their peers) have no such issue or fear of black people.

Agreed completely–and that extends even to many affluent and educated suburban liberals. But I think some of those older working-class whites have principles and potentials that New Age smoothies like Obama can’t touch. But a genuine populist willing to look beyond black and white–or better, to joint black and white and brown and yellow and red on the picket line–would do a nice end-run around the stupid categories we’re presented with. Jesse Jackson was that populist, in 1984 and 1988; Barack Obama isn’t. And God help us if Romney makes it in.

I have had much exposure to those older working class whites and they do indeed have principles and potentials that go untapped. Their racism is mainly driven by a lack of exposure to diversity and the never ending variations of the southern strategy trotted out regularly by those on the right. They are not so much mean spirited but simply fearful of the unknown. It is sad that poor whites believe they have more incommon with Romney than they do with poor blacks. Dividing the poor along racial lines has been the single most effective strategy by the right. A leader that could bridge that divide could return this country to the people andvend this slide towards plutocracy.

BlackRockLifer, you said a true thing. The division of the black and white working class is the key to American politics.

Ted Allen, a great left-wing historian, argued this case in a two-volume study called, THE INVENTION OF THE WHITE RACE. A short version is available here: http://clogic.eserver.org/1-2/allen.html. Allen traces it back to 1675, and the aftermath of Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia, which brought poor whites and blacks together against the coastal ruling class–clearly a terrifying prospect, which led to a host of colonial Jim Crow laws. Similarly with the Communist-led Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union of the 1930s and later. White Fear has to be manufactured constantly, lest it turn into black-white solidarity and anger.

That sneer sends those poor whites directly into the hands of the Republican party and allows a minority view to dominate our political discourse. Living here in Black Rock I am well aware of the disdain and even contempt many have for the less fortunate. Of course these people have no real knowledge of poverty and live in communities that isolate them from the problem.
The poor in our city and the poor in the small towns of WNY face the same challenges yet are worlds apart in politics. If you scratch the surface these people are more alike than different and I believe they share many basic values. They just don’t know each other and believe the stereotypes of city thug/bum or country hick/redneck. I have a cabin in the southern tier and talk to the locals from time to time. The people there remind me of some of my city neighbors, most are decent folks but have formed opinions not based on fact. We need progressive leadership willing and able to reach those now leaning to the right, I think most could be persuaded to listen.

50 reasons why the President deserves a 2nd term. A few stand out. Women’s rights to control their own bodies. Paul Krugman wrote today that under Romney/Ryan Medicaid would be decimated and 45 million Americans would lose all health care.

But if it’s your “body” why can’t you just to them to go to hell? BTW, Mom’s body can be jailed if she violates the homeschool regs. This is just one of thousands of cases where libs violate a woman’s or man’s right to control his own body. My body was once forced to talk to a truant officer for ten minutes because my kid’s body was home sick.

I listened to the video for 38 seconds before being met with the first rank absurdity. The GI bill helped create the world’s biggest economy ever. What complete bullshit! The US had the world’s biggest economy by about 1885.

That is a very pretty picture. You convinced me – I don’t like the other guy! Now, what will Obama do, besides render 3:44 of platitudes? Every chart was on Bush’s record, not his own or what he is planning. Which is his political/election problem in a nutshell.